A friend of mine from high school opened up this question to me. Let’s see if we can help her out:
“I am starting my first “big girl” job in about a week and a half. As a young professional who doesn’t have much money starting before my first paycheck, where the heck can young women get nice, quality clothes for a relatively reasonable price?”
Simple enough question it seems. But I realized I couldn’t really help her out. I’m struggling with this issue myself. I’m tired of running to Old Navy every weekend like it’s the only store that exists simply because it fits my budget. She continues:
“I mean, I shop the sales and keep my email updates about what is happening at my favorite stores and love it when I can find 20 dollar pants at the Gap, but that takes lots of time and effort to search sale racks, attempt to get to a store when there might be sales going on, etc. “
Yeah, it’s hard work to catch a bargain these days. I keep my e-mail inbox flooded with those “$15 off a $50 purchase” offers, but I never make it to the mall because it expires. Which brings about her last point:
“For people who are busy, how can you add shopping for reasonably priced clothes into the mix, especially when you are beyond the Old Navy age but not quite the Ann Taylor? So to add this to the young mom – when do they have time for this if there are kids to take care of, deadlines at work, and meals to make?”
Your thoughts?
Where do you shop? How much do your pants usually cost? Can you buy a whole outfit for less than $100? What’s your limit when buying clothes?
And be real: do you look nice at work but during the weekend (your casual time) do you look as put together? Where do you shop to buy nice casual clothes?
Like you, I often shop at Old Navy. At times I feel they should send me some free stock.
You and your friend should try Target. They really have some stylish clothing there.
Hugs and Mocha,
Stesha
@ Stesha – Hi Stesha! Yes, I do like Target and probably about 40% of my current wardrobe is from there. I do feel weird buying so much stuff from the same place I can buy milk and Play-Doh. LOL.
I shop at H&M and you can get really nice suits for a pretty good price, yes I think for about $100, the pants or skirt are usually $30-40 and the jackets are usually $50-60. One of my no-fail interview suits is from there, black with the skirts and the pants as an option. My second interview outfit is from there as well and it’s a classic black shift, that I can wear different ways.
Here’s an example of a 3 piece suit I bought from H&M (minus the jacket) and the blouse is from there as well (picture taken in work bathroom): http://images36.fotki.com/v1351/photos/2/204619/6781569/Picture011-vi.jpg
@knwill – Cute outfit! I like it a lot. One thing I’d add about H&M (and I don’t know if I’m the only one) but I think their clothing runs small. I’m usually a 6-8 and I always always always have to get a 10 at least. So just keep that in mind, ladies!
Hi Tara,
Yes H&M clothes are all European cut, so you’ll have to go up about 2 sizes.
@Knwill – Well, duh, why didn’t I know that?
Good to know I’m not just delusional when I walk in there. I asked the salesperson for a 10 once and she gave me a look like, “You need a 10? Maybe you should quit eating the cupcakes instead, fatso.”
I might just be a little sensitive. LOL.
I find that shopping at outlet stores like Ross save a lot of money and you can get name brand clothes that are perfectly okay at way cheaper prices! I always end up walking out with much more than I intended on getting!
JC Penney’s is pretty good about clothes and the prices. Most of the time, JC Penney’s always has some kind of sale going on. I buy most of the my clothes in there and 9 times out of 10, the cashier gave me an additional % off of the sale price. And my absolute favorite is Burlington Coat factory. They usually have a good selection and the prices are pretty good.
@Cymonne – You know, I usually rush right past JCPenney’s, now that I think about it. Next time I’m at the mall, maybe I’ll stop by and browse the racks. Thanks for the (oh so obvious..lol) suggestion!
Marshalls is a great place to shop. Especially their clearance section. Burlington Coat Factory is also a favorite of mine. Otherwise I agree with everyone else, Target, Old Navy, and H&M.
Oh and try to visit the outlets rather than the regular stores.
@LaKeysha – Burlington Coat Factory is either hit or miss for me. Either I go and they have a gazillion things I want to buy, or I can’t find anything in the whole store for myself and I end up buying baby clothes. LOL.
I’m guilty of the BCF thing too Tara. Jaedyn’s 1st week of day care I’m like ok, I’m paying for the kid to be there, this is my first real break from him, I’m going in here to find ME something. Yeah…ummm…I spent like $70 bucks in there and only $20+ tax was on me, smh!
I guess I’m just a cheap person or maybe it was the way I was raised. I despise designer anything! Paying more than $20 for one pair of pants to me is outrageous! $100 bucks for one outfit??? No way! I don’t think they have them here, but I love Rainbow & Dots–oh and DEB. However, I just went to Walmart the other guy and got quite a few new items for like $100 bucks. I got 2 sun dresses, like 6 tops, pants, shorts, even new bras. Shirts were on sale for $10 bucks and the pants, shorts and bra’s were on the clearance rack. As far as time goes, I had Jaedyn with me and I never buy anything without trying it on first so umm yeah, defintely not a lot of time before he starts to get bored sitting in the cart and cut up.
I’m very picky about my clothes, especially with the body image issues I have, so it’s hard for me to shop for new things. Not to mention with my current weight change it makes it diffcult. I’m not quite small enough for the regular section but just about everything in plus is too big for me! So for me, I’d say Wally, then Target, Marshalls/TJ Maxx, BCF, even Gabes had some stuff when I used to go there
@Courtney – Yeah, I usually don’t pay that much for clothes, but I will occasionally buy something more expensive, because I’ve found that they are cut better, and make me look better. Plus, they hold up more to the tugging and pulling my kids do all on me. My favorite pair of pants to wear to work cost me about $85 from Express. Too bad I can’t fit them anymore. lol.
I go to Wal-Mart, Rainbow, Dots, etc, for T-shirts and camis. Not much else ’cause I can’t find anything that fits!
I by a lot of my clothes from New York and Company. They are always having a sale and if you sign up for the coupons you can get more than your money’s worth. Another great store to shop at is Macy’s. yes they can be pricey, but they too run really good specials.